Economy needs to be saved, can't be revived: D. Raja

"As a nation, we will have to think about it. Now, the Government will have to rework its neo-liberal economic policies so that the economy can be saved."

NEW DELHI: Communist Party of India leader D. Raja on Tuesday slammed the ruling Congress-led UPA Government for insisting on its neo-liberal policies, and said that the Centre has ensured that there is no scope of revival of the Indian economy.

"As a nation, we will have to think about it. Now, the Government will have to rework its neo-liberal economic policies, ...so that the economy can be saved. There is no hope for the revival of the Indian economy," Raja said.

"This government doesn't want to understand certain policies, which were discussed in the past. So, the situation is very serious. The Congress-led UPA 2 Government will be held solely responsible for the mismanagement of economy, which led to the fall of the Indian rupee like this," Raja added.

Saying that the depreciating value of the rupee is crucial, Raja said that the Central Government remains flippant about taking action to bring the economy back on track.

"It is a very serious development that the Indian rupee is falling in its value, declining continuously, and the decline doesn't seem to end--it continues to decline. It is a serious development. In fact, it shows that the Indian economy continues to be in very, very bad shape. But the Government, even though it acknowledges the seriousness in words, in action remains complacent. It has not been taking earnest (and) serious measures to contain this decline of the value of the Indian rupee," Raja said.

Accusing the government to constantly defend itself saying that the meltdown is reflective of global factors, Raja said that the Centre should take complete responsibility of the present economic situation in India.

"The government will have to take some concrete (and) conscious efforts, instead of blaming everything on global factors. There were global factors in the past also, but we didn't face such a situation. It is because of the mismanagement of our economy by the Congress-led UPA 2 Government," Raja said.

Encouraging the government to take measures to ensure the domestic market will strengthen, Raja asked the government to, first, retrieve the outstanding amounts from corporate houses.

"Government should ask corporate houses to pay their due to the Government, so that Government spending on infrastructure--both physical and social infrastructure--will go up. ...This government doesn't want to understand certain policies, which were discussed in the past," Raja said.

On Monday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh also deemed the ruling party incapable of reviving the Indian economy.

"I believe that the economic situation of the country has not been worse in independent India. Even several international agencies are pondering on whether India's economy will be able to revive or not. The government is failing to take effective steps to revive, restart and recharge the economic situation in the country," Singh said.

On August 17, the Communist Part of India (Marxist) and the Janata Dal (United) asked the Central Government to strengthen the infrastructure around domestic markets, instead of concentrating on foreign investment into the country.

Earlier today, the rupee breached its all time low when it hit 64.11 against the US dollar.